EXPERIENCE counts for more than social background in the eyes of Conservative voters when judging a potential leader, according to a new Populus poll for The Times.

The poll, undertaken over the weekend, confirms that David Davis would run Kenneth Clarke close among Conservative voters, and would trounce David Cameron. Mr Clarke would beat Mr Davis among all voters by 29 to 12 per cent, with other candidates in low single figures. But, among Tories, Mr Clarke is only ahead by 29 to 26 per cent.

In a direct choice with David Cameron, Mr Davis would win by 32 to 15 per cent among all voters, with 53 per cent don’t knows. Among Tory voters, Mr Davis would win by 53 to 14 per cent. Mr Davis has strengthened his position more than any other candidate among Tory voters since early June.

Populus also asked whether various personal attributes were positive or negative, though it did not link them to any individual. Social background had little impact.

Two thirds (68 per cent) of all voters, and three quarters (73 per cent) of Tories, said that it made no difference whether the next leader had been educated at Eton, as Mr Cameron had. But, while among all voters, being an Old Etonian is a negative rather than a positive factor by 19 to 10 per cent, it is narrowly favourable, by 13 to 11 per cent, among Tories.

Being raised on a council estate and by a single parent, as Mr Davis was, are seen as more favourable by all voters than by Tories, though three quarters say this makes no difference.

By contrast, 43 per cent of all voters, and 57 per cent of Tories, believe that having a career in business before becoming an MP, as Mr Davis did, is positive. Moreover, 31 per cent of the public generally, but 44 per cent of Tories, take a favourable view of having served as a minister in the last Tory Government. This applies to both Mr Davis and Mr Clarke.

Having a young family, as Mr Cameron does, is strongly positive, both among all voters (36 per cent) and Tories (40 per cent). Being under 40 (Mr Cameron) is marginally more positive than late 50s (Mr Davis), though being in your mid-60s (Mr Clarke) is negative.

The poll underlines the serious problems faced by the Tories. Only 16 per cent of all voters, and 29 per cent of Tories, say that the party has changed for the better since 1997.

A quarter of both groups say that the party has changed for the worse, while 54 per cent of all, and 47 per cent of Tories, say that it has not changed at all.

Tory voters and non-Tories have sharply different views about the party. While 64 per cent of Tories think the party has a good team of leaders, only 22 per cent of non-Tories agree. These figures have hardly changed since last autumn.

While 86 per cent of Tories say that the party “shares my values”, only 23 per cent of non-Tories do. The gap is 71 to 28 per cent on “honest and principled” and 80 to 31 per cent on “competent and capable”.

On voting intentions, Labour is comfortably ahead of the Tories on 40 to 28 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats on 22 per cent, and others on 10 per cent.

Populus interviewed a random sample of 1,506 adults aged over 18 by telephone between July 22 and 24. Interviews were cond-ucted across the country and the results have been weighted to be representative of all adults. Pop-ulus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. For more details, see www.populuslimited.com.

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